LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Congressman’s propaganda misleads the public

To the Editor:

In stunningly bogus promotion of his party’s Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act, Rep. Buddy Carter makes numerous claims contradicted by facts. First, Carter conspicuously ignores widely substantiated evidence that corporate price-gouging has caused more than half of inflation.

But more egregious is Carter’s fabricated concern about policies that harm consumers, while his fellow partisans persist in defiantly promoting fossil-fuel-based energy, as recently approved by Georgia’s Public Service Commission. Despite amply validated justifications for rapidly reducing combustion of those fuels due to their heat-trapping effects, the PSC decision will impose heavy burdens on consumers and citizens, in both energy costs and increasing damages caused by climate change.

Flooding, crop failures, and health impairments – among other disastrous impacts – are costing Americans at least $150 billion annually. Conversely, Carter raves about Georgia’s “clean-energy economy” on the deceptive basis of producing batteries and electric vehicles – yet their benefits can’t be captured here, since most of Georgia’s electricity is generated by burning polluting fuels.

Carter and his colleagues are also failing to serve citizens through compromised efforts to reduce climate emissions, such as their submittal to EPA: Georgia’s “Voluntary Climate Pollution Reduction Plan.” If state leadership – including Carter – were working in the true interest of Georgians, there would be nothing “voluntary” about a plan intended to prevent worsening climate change – indeed, nothing is more justifiably, urgently essential.

To achieve vital progress by replacing manipulative disinformation with endorsement of factually-based priorities and actions, Georgians must elect candidates known for upholding moral convictions, not divisive, dogmatic propagandists.

David Kyler 

Saint Simons Island

NOTE: David Kyler is director of the Center for a Sustainable Coast.